- Oregon, USA -
Oregon State Police are reaching out to the public for information in hopes of finding the person responsible for illegally shooting and killing an innocent wolf in northeast Oregon.
On Saturday, January 8, a resident called state troopers after discovering the lifeless 2-year-old female wolf fitted with a tracking collar about 6 miles southeast of the town of Wallowa.
The VOICELESS VICTIM, known as OR 106, was not traveling with other animals after dispersing from the Chesnimnus Pack.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists determined the wolf died of a gunshot wound.
A reward of $16,500 is being offered in exchange for information leading to a criminal conviction.
KGW8 reports that OR 106 is one of several who have been poached in eastern Oregon in the past 12 months.
Last year in Union County at least eight wolves were fatally poisoned and a reward of nearly $50,000 has been offered in the poisonings.
As reported by KGW8, wolves once ranged most of the U.S. but were wiped out in most places by the 1930s under government-sponsored poisoning and trapping campaigns.
Ms. Amoroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said: “This wolf’s lonely death highlights why Oregon needs to establish a special prosecutor’s office for wildlife-related crime. Oregon’s wolves are in extreme danger from illegal killings, and the killers often escape consequences. The state needs to do much more to investigate and punish these sickening crimes.”
Ms. Brooks Fahy, executive director of Predator Defense, an Oregon-based national wildlife advocacy nonprofit, said in a statement: “The senseless killing of the young female wolf OR-106 is a crime against this animal and all who care about Oregon’s wildlife. It is absolutely critical that the perpetrator of this crime be caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
If you have any information about this murder, please, come forward and speak up for the VOICELESS VICTIM.
You can call the Oregon State Police tip line at 1-800-452-7888, by dialing *OSP (*677) or by email , referencing case # SP22006179. Thank you!
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